Tough night for the Mets, as the Reds took the lead in the first and never looked back in this 4-1 defeat.
Summary
It was a low scoring affair tonight, and not much went in favor of our hometown heroes. They fell behind in top of the first and never really got back on track after that, even though Jon Niese recovered pretty well.
Jon Niese took the mound this evening and did not pitch too bad at all, and on a night with some offense behind him, he might have stood a good chance of a no-decision at least. He allowed the aforementioned three-run blast to Jay Bruce in the first and recovered to only allowed an RBI single to Ludwick in the 4th. 6 hits and a walk over 7 IP was not a bad line, and he K’d 7 to go with it. The growth of Jon Niese has been really nice to watch. Batista bailed out Byrdak in the eighth, inducing an inning ending double play from Ludwick with the bases loaded after walking his first batter. He finished up the pitching in the ninth.
We were basically punchless tonight, outside of a D-Wright RBI 2B. The Mets scattered 6 hits off Homer Bailey, who pitched 8 innings of one-run ball. The good news is that Wright, Hairston, and Murphy had a 2B each – so half of their hits were XBH.
So yeah, that is the skinny.
Goat Of The Game
It feels kind of odd naming a goat here since it was a real team loss, but it has to be Niese by default. Good job bouncing back from the early HR, though.
Notes
Bay’s on the 7-day DL with a concussion. Turner will be recalled.
8 LOB and 2-12 with RISP. Ouch.
Murphy picked up a SB on the evening (5). Niese drops to (4-3).
On Deck
Chris Young takes the mound for his third start tomorrow against Johnny Cueto at 1:10 PM. Both men are coming off wins – Young his first of the season, and Cueto a CG six-hitter.
